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viii Preface

diversity in social work. The principal theoretical propositions are fivefold. First, diversity
is intrinsic to every situation and to every person. Historically, social work functioned with
many assumptions about commonality in needs. Naturally, the concept of basic human
needs has not been jettisoned by the field. Nonetheless, the notion of need is now under-
going an overhaul, with a great deal more sensitivity being paid to the nuances of particu-
larized need. This leads to our second point: Needs vary across a single person’s lifetime,
and they may be far more fluid than previous perspectives assumed. Indeed, fluidity char-
acterizes the third point: Multiple aspects of identity intersect within a particular person,
community, or situation. More than this, to turn to a fourth point: Issues of identity have
much to do with power, status, and other social capital. These, in turn, will be reflected in
the treatment encounter. The fifth and final point pertains to knowledge, both local and
global. The field of social work is in the midst of a discourse on the relative merits of local-
ized versus globalized knowledge. It is the view of the editors of this volume that neither
type of knowledge is mutually exclusive, and in fact, both types are critical to social work
practice in diversity. The reader will find these topics as well as many more between the
covers of this book, reflected through the prism of psychosocial intervention.
There is a growing consensus that diversity of human needs constitutes the most
helpful—and authentic—paradigm for psychosocial treatment. However, the trans-
lation of this contemporary ideal into practice is fraught with difficulty, as the chapters
in this book make clear. Notwithstanding this challenge, we hope that the current vol-
ume helps clinicians fulfill the privileged mandate that they have been given by people
everywhere.

Acknowledgements
The editors would like to thank Dr Susan Graham, who provided unfailing support and
provided key assistance with several parts of this book. David Sandoz, Sara Tropper,
and Derek Campbell provided most helpful research assistance.
We also wish to thank the named and anonymous peer reviewers who provided
positive feedback that helped to shape this volume:

• Shaheen Azmi, Ryerson University

• Barbara Baker, Georgian College
• Gus Hill, York University
• Judith White, University of Regina
• Jim R. Vanderwoerd, Redeemer University College

Dedication
This book is dedicated to Dr Monawar, Liali and Mohamad Al-Krenawi, and Alena
Auchynnikava; Dr Susan Graham; and Tatyanna Melanie Morgan.
Contributors
Alean Al-Krenawi, Ph.D., is president of Achva Academic College and professor in the Spitzer
Department of Social Work at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. Dr Al-Krenawi’s
research interests include multicultural mental health and social work with Indigenous popula-
tions, political violence, and polygamy. Dr Al-Krenawi is an international authority in his area of
research and has been invited to lecture in many academic institutions and conferences around
the globe. He has conducted studies in Canada, Israel, and many countries in the Middle east.

Xue Bai is assistant professor in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at the Hong Kong
Polytechnic University. She obtained her Ph.D. from the Department of Social Work and Social
Administration at the University of Hong Kong. Her areas of research mainly include aging and
health, social policy for older people, and social service evaluation. She has been actively invol-
ved in a number of research projects that have made a great impact on aging policy and service
development for older people.

Natalie Blake-Noel is a professor in the Social Service Worker Diploma Program at Humber
College and the Family and Community Social Services Degree Program at the University of
Guelph-Humber. She is passionate about teaching and connecting students with the fundamen-
tals of social work within an applicable and practical learning environment. Professor Blake-
Noel has extensive years of experience as a social worker specializing in mental health, at-risk
youth, immigrants, and community development. She continues to strongly advocate for the
oppressed and marginalized.

Keith Brownlee is a professor of social work at Lakehead University and director of research
at the Centre for education and Research on Positive Youth Development. Professor Brownlee
teaches research and clinical practice at the undergraduate and graduate levels. For many years
he has worked and conducted research in northwestern Ontario and has had an interest in issues
related to rural and remote communities.

Irene Carter is an associate professor at the University of Windsor and is the coordinator for the
on-campus Master of Social Work programs. She also serves as faculty for the School of Social
Work and the Disability Studies Program.

Diana Coholic is associate professor and current director of the School of Social Work at
Laurentian University. She has published previously in the area of spiritually influenced social
work practice, including arts-based mindfulness with vulnerable populations.

Gio Dolcecore completed their Master of Social Work at the University of Calgary. They work
as a mental health clinician specializing in homelessness and working with diverse populations,
including gender and sexual minorities.

Gary C. Dumbrill is an associate professor in McMaster University’s School of Social Work.

His research and teaching focus on service-users’ theory, child welfare, anti-oppressive practice,
anti-racism, and social inclusion and exclusion. Dumbrill places emphasis on connecting theory
to direct practice and on conducting research that informs both policy and practice. His research
is primarily participatory and community based, and it is oten grounded in the knowledge,
theory, and voice of service users, particularly through the use of photovoice, video, and other
arts-based methods.
x Contributors

Douglas Durst is a professor of social work at the University of Regina and teaches social
research and social policy at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Underlying his research is
an anti-oppressive approach by giving voice to marginalized peoples, including people with disa-
bilities, the elderly, and immigrants and refugees. During his years in the Northwest Territories,
he developed a love for the north and its peoples.

Debashis Dutta is coordinator of the Human Services Foundation Program at Conestoga

College in Kitchener, Ontario, and he also teaches in the School of Social Work at Renison
University College in Waterloo, Ontario. His current research focuses on adaptation and accultu-
ration of immigrants to Canada from the Bengal region of India, and the impacts on parenting
and on socialization of children.

Sarah Fotheringham is a Ph.D. candidate in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of
Calgary. Fotheringham has worked with the issue of violence against women, including sexual
and domestic violence, and women’s homelessness for a number of years in both research and
direct service. Her current research interest is in women-centred social enterprise, a poverty
reduction strategy for low-income women located within Canada’s social economy.

Sulaimon Giwa is a Ph.D. candidate (abd) in social work at York University, with research,
policy, and direct practice experience at the community and federal level in youth health promo-
tions, community and organizational practice in diverse communities, corrections, and policing.
His applied research program and professional activities centralize critical race transforma-
tive pedagogies and theories as frameworks and analytic tools for social justice and equity. His
research interests are in the areas of race and sexuality, critical social work pedagogy, anti-ra-
cism/oppression, and the criminal justice system. He has taught in the social work programs at
Ryerson University and York University.

John Graham, formerly the Murray Fraser Professor at the University of Calgary, is director
and professor of the School of Social Work at Florida Atlantic University. He has published on
international social work, multicultural social work, and social policy.

Nazim Habibov is associate professor of social work at the University of Windsor. He has
published extensively on social and health policies as well as poverty and inequality in the
context of developed and developing countries.

Ross A. Klein is a professor of social work at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He has

worked with culturally and ethnically diverse populations and has written extensively about the
international cruise ship industry, including stratification and “rights” of passengers and crew
based on skin colour, religion, cultural heritage, gender, sexual orientation, country of origin, and
other reflections of diversity.

Marie Lacroix a professor at the School of Social Work, Université de Montréal. She has worked
with asylum seekers in Montreal and has done extensive research on asylum seekers and social work.

Daniel W.L. Lai was a professor in the Faculty of Social Work and the Annual Killam Professor
­(2014–15) at the University of Calgary. He was also formerly Alberta Health Scholar between
2003 and 2009. Since mid-December 2015, he has been appointed as Chair Professor of Social
Work and Gerontology in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at the Hong Kong
Polytechnic University. His scholarly and research interests include anti-oppressive social work
 Contributors xi

practice, social policy, gerontology, and working with immigrants and culturally diverse popula-
tions. His research publications and funded research focus mainly on immigrant and culturally
diverse older adults and racialized population groups.

Catherine Montgomery is a professor of communications at the Université du Québec à

Montréal where she teaches in the field of intercultural communication. She also directs the
metiss research group in Montreal, which specializes in intercultural intervention in the health
and social services. Her recent work focuses on intervention practices in contexts of diversity.

Carey Mulligan has a Master of Clinical Social Work from the University of Calgary. She is a
full-time social worker in Ottawa, Ontario. Carey’s clinical work and research is informed by an
anti-oppressive, feminist and queer perspective. Carey is active in anti-violence work locally and
sees social justice as central to the work she does.

Raymond Neckoway is an associate professor at Lakehead University’s School of Social

Work. He teaches in the undergraduate and graduate programs, and his research revolves
around Indigenous interests in parenting, attachment theory, and social work in rural, remote
communities.

Gordon Pon has a Master of Social Work and Ph.D. and is an associate professor in the School
of Social Work at Ryerson University. His research interests include anti-racism and anti-colo-
nialism, child welfare, and Asian-Canadian Studies.

Narda Razack is a professor in the School of Social Work, York University and has extensive
experience in research, pedagogy, and administration. She is the Associate Dean, Global and
Community Engagement in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies. Her research
and publication areas include: North–South relations, globalization and international social
work, critical race theory and post-colonialism.

Christine A. Walsh is a professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary. She
is a feminist and activist and teaches research and social justice and anti-oppressive practice.
Her program of action research prioritizes the needs of marginalized populations, including
Aboriginal peoples, youth at risk, and populations impacted by poverty and homelessness.

David Welch is an associate professor at the École de service social, Université d’Ottawa. He has
published extensively on social services for people of Franco-Ontarian background, community
development, and policy concerns.

Miu Chung Yan is a professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Social Work. He
teaches and studies culture, race, and ethnicity in social work practice, and settlement and inte-
gration needs and challenges of visible minority newcomers to Canada.

June Ying Yee is an associate professor in Ryerson University’s School of Social Work as well as
the academic coordinator of the Internationally Educated Social Work Professionals Bridging
Program at Ryerson. Her professional and scholarly research interests are in the area of health,
education, child welfare, and social services. She has published in a number of journals, inclu-
ding Canadian Social Work Review, Social Work Education: The International Journal, and
Critical Social Work. Yee continues to actively work with various organizations involved with
child welfare, local municipalities, and children’s mental-health organizations to adopt organiza-
tional-change strategies that result in instrumental systemic change.
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Part I
Theoretical Approaches to
Social Work and Diversity

M ulticulturalism and ethnocultural identity are now central to Canadian life—and

to social work theory and practice. Differences within our communities, our fam-
ilies, and ourselves increasingly demand that we, as social workers, advocate for both
ourselves and those we practise with and serve. Ours is a profession committed to social
justice and human rights. Social workers in Canada will be expected to practise within,
as well as spread, anti-oppressive social work principles throughout their careers.
The chapters within this section will discuss historical connections and current
socio-cultural phenomenon that have acted and continue to act as social and govern-
mental drivers of ethnoracial identity. But ethnoracial identity, we stress, intersects with
age, socio-economic class, range of ability, sexual orientation, and other identities. This
section will address the culture of the “Other” and the ways in which this sociological
construct helps social workers appreciate other people’s differences and the power rela-
tionships that flow out of these differences.
Privileged social positions influence our learning and practice as professional help-
ers in ways that will affect how we are able to advocate for and make positive change
toward the elimination of discrimination and the enhancement of minority rights and
future ethnocultural development. The following chapters will also explore the nature
of privilege and social and structural dynamics in Canada and offer indications of what
we, as professional social workers, can do to lessen the negative consequences of such
social conditions in Canada.

Part I Contents
1 Introduction: Social Work and Diversity 2
2 Whiteout: Still Looking for Race in Canadian Social Work Practice 13
3 Foundations of Anti-racism and Anti-oppression in Social Work Practice 38
 Introduction
1 Social Work and Diversity
By Alean Al-Krenawi, John R. Graham, and Nazim Habibov

Chapter Objectives
In this chapter, you will be introduced to:
• Ways to understand the notion of “difference”
• Current instances of social work challenges among various religious and
socio-economic groups
• Definitions of cultural competence, identity, intersectionality, and
indigenization/localization vis-à-vis social work practice
• The organization of this book

Introduction
French Canadian or Franco-Ontarian? Afro-Canadian or Black? Differently abled or
(dis)abled? Can a straight person use the word “queer”? Can someone whose first lan-
guage is not French consider themselves québécois? Should a younger person refer to
an older person in a more formal manner, such as by using the word vous in French,
or Mr or Ms in English? Is it ever acceptable to refer to a married woman as “Mrs,” or
should women always be addressed as “Ms,” regardless of marital status? Can cohabitat-
ing persons engaged in an intimate relationship describe themselves as “husband” and
“wife,” or should they use a gender-neutral term like “partner”? What is the most sig-
nificant identifier of them all? Is it sex, gender, socio-economic class, race, language,
geography, religion, sexual orientation? Is there something else that is even more sig-
nificant? Or is it a combination of these facets, changing over the course of time and
across situations and lived experiences? Whatever these concepts are, and however we
define them, how do we understand them in ourselves and in others? How do we come
to learn how others construe these same things in themselves and in the world around
them?
These questions stand at the very forefront of debates now taking place across aca-
demic disciplines and societies. Even as our book headed to peer review, this is how
 Al-Krenawi, Graham, and Habibov: Introduction 3

a professor of English described her undergraduate experiences teaching at a diverse

Bronx campus in New York City:

“I have no connection to Africa,” a black student explained one year, “so I don’t
want to be called African-American any more than whites want to be called
European-American.” Students from Africa and the Caribbean routinely
object to being categorized with American blacks. A Jamaican student said that
she had never experienced racism until, as an adult, she came to the United
States . . . Since I began doing this exercise in the late ’90s, the discussions
have revolved around self-presentation and self-identification. I remember a
mixed-race student loudly scolding her classmate for denying his blackness by
calling himself Dominican instead of Afro-Dominican, as she did. “You have
no racial pride,” she yelled at him across the room. “You’re denying a whole
piece of your history by hiding it when you call yourself Dominican. You
should be ashamed!” (Mifflin, 2014, p. B2).

Difference is the mark of healthy societies. We find differences within our com-
munities as well as between ourselves and those with whom we learn and practice;
differences between ourselves and the people we serve; differences in ourselves over the
life course. These and other parameters strongly impact how we conceive of and carry
out professional practice.
Naturally, differences show up in worldviews. Religion stands as a prime example
of this, and social work research reflects that reality well. Two Canadian scholars
have written thoughtfully on classroom experiences in which there are differences
in viewpoints between Christian fundamentalist and secular students, and they pro-
vide strategies that can engender respectful dialogue (Todd & Coholic, 2007). Another
Canadian author, David Hodge, addressing an American audience, ponders whether
the social work profession oppresses Christian fundamentalists (Hodge, 2002). He
and his coauthors provide evidence of bias against people of faith in some social work
writings (Hodge, Baughman, & Cummings, 2006). A solo article by Hodge examined
sexual orientation and its different epistemological frameworks among people of faith
and others (Hodge, 2005). Scholars have responded to Hodge’s work (Dessel, Bolen, &
Shepardson, 2011), and the profession stands stronger for such dialogue.
Socio-economic class is another obvious marker—sometimes interfacing with
geographic background. A secondary school teacher in New York City writes of her
experiences as a student on a prestigious college campus in the late 1970s:

The other students I encountered seemed foreign to me. Their parents had gone
to Ivy League schools; they played tennis. I had never been east of Nebraska.
My mother raised five children while she worked for the post office, and we
kept a goat in our yard to reduce the amount of garbage we’d have to pay for
at the county dump . . . It’s often the subtler things, the signifiers, of who they
4 Part I Theoretical Approaches to Social Work and Diversity

are and where they come from, that cause the most trouble . . . Hardest was
the awareness that my own experiences were not only undervalued but often
mocked, used to indicate when someone was stupid of low-class. No one at
Barnard ate Velveeta or had ever butchered a deer . . . (Madden, 2014, p. A21).

The above-noted narrative describes poignantly the pain experienced by the stu-
dent who perceived herself as different and was considered inferior due to this differ-
ence. As is well known, misreadings of diversity abound.
Social science, however, has made significant strides over the past several decades in
reducing the number of these misreadings. Older notions of feminist identity tended to
look at gender in linear terms, with insufficient reference to age, socio-economic class,
range of ability, sexual orientation, or other identities (Anthias, 2002a). Scholarship on
aging (Calasanti & Slevin, 2006), race (Maher & Tetrault, 2001), and multiculturalism
(Worell & Remer, 2002) has rendered feminist analyses far richer. The same is true of
research on (dis)ability (Bickenbach, Chatterji, Badley, & Üstün, 1999).
Yet few social work texts, and none with a Canadian orientation, guide us in grap-
pling with the changing complexities of Canadian society and the resulting comin-
gling of diversity with social work knowledge, development, and practice. One may
find Canadian volumes on structural social work (Mullally, 2007; Baines, 2007), multi-
cultural social work (Al-Krenawi & Graham, 2003), disability and social policy (Prince,
2009), ethnicity/race and social work (Wallis & Kwok, 2008), and gender and social
work (Swift, 1995). But no Canadian work has taken up the challenge of treating, in a
single volume, the intersectionality of multiple forms of diversity.
To correct this problem, we have brought together thought leaders on a range of
topics of contemporary issues of diversity. We have geared this book to senior under-
graduate students and graduate students of social work—those who are well into the
development stage of their thinking on how to manage and leverage the diversity
that calls from every corner of practice. Collectively, the book has important implica-
tions and utility for direct practice and for the enhancement of skills in working in an
increasingly diverse world. Distinctive theoretical angles are embedded in each chapter,
highlighting four major concepts:

• cultural competence
• experiential phenomenological approaches to identity
• intersectionality
• localization or indigenization

The following pages in this introductory chapter deal with each concept in turn.

Cultural Competence
An expanded notion of cultural diversity includes the domains of race/ethnicity, cul-
ture, socio-economic status (ses), age, religion/spirituality, subcultural identification,
 Al-Krenawi, Graham, and Habibov: Introduction 5

language, physical ability, sexual orientation, gender, education, and any other identifi-
cation that the client uses for self-reference (American Psychiatric Association [apa],
2000; apa, 2003; Malik & Velazquez, 2002). Diversity is differently expressed across
context, resulting in an array of definitions (Zapata, 2009). Welfare, psychological ser-
vices, education, and legislation are but a few of those settings.
The present work widens and deepens the frame of a prior volume, which encour-
aged social workers to understand their practice in a multicultural framework mediated
by socio-economic class, gender, religion, geography, sexual orientation, and other sub-
jective identities (Al-Krenawi & Graham, 2003). In the interim, scholars have explored
social work practice that is anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and structural in orientation
(Dominelli, 1997, 2002; Moreau, 1979; Mullaly, 2007). Authors from these traditions
explore the interface of broader social structures and individual social problems,
whether rooted in racism or oppression via other forms of identity or via the economic,
political, and social structures of those who have power.
As Al-Krenawi and Graham (2003) have pointed out, “Canadian literature, like
its American counterparts (Lum, 1992; Devore & Schlesinger, 1996), has emphasized
a model of cultural competence that enables behaviours, knowledge, attitudes, and
policies to respond appropriately to cultural and racial diversity” (Este, 1999; Herberg,
1993). As shown in Table 1.1, cultural competence goes well beyond efforts toward
sensitivity. Whereas cultural sensitivity involves honing one’s awareness of cultural
issues, cultural competence entails a more change-committed focus on cultural issues
(Este, 1999, p. 32).

Experiential Phenomenological Approaches to Identity

But how does one become culturally competent? One way of looking at the question
is to think about where one might fall along a continuum. One’s position might vary
over time and in different contexts, but the two polarities are intellectual constructs
the help us to better understand cultural competence. On one end of the continuum is
cultural literacy; on the other, experiential phenomenology (see Table 1.2). For more
on experiential phenomenology see Chapter 4 by Marie Lacroix.

Table 1.1 The Cultural Sophistication Framework

Dimension Culturally Incompetent Culturally Sensitive Culturally Competent
Cognitive dimension Oblivious Aware Knowledgeable
Affective dimension Apathetic Sympathetic Committed to change
Skills dimension Unskilled Lacking some skills Highly skilled
Overall effect Destructive Neutral Constructive
Source: Este, D. (1999). Social work and cultural competency. In G. Lie & D. Este (Eds.), Professional social service
delivery in a multicultural world (p. 32). Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press.
6 Part I Theoretical Approaches to Social Work and Diversity

Table 1.2 Two Models of Culturally Competent Multicultural Practice

Cultural Literacy Model Experiential Phenomenological Model
Practitioner as expert Practitioner as learner
Assumes superior knowledge Naiveté and curiosity
Culture as homogeneous system Plurality and multiplicity of internalized culture
Client as member of cultural group Member as unique individual
Culture-specific techniques Process-oriented techniques
Nearly impossible Demands critical self-examination
Source: Excerpted from Tsang, A.K.T., & George, U. (1998). Towards an integrated framework for cross-cultural social
work practice. Canadian Social Work Review, 15(1), 83.

Some practitioners tend toward the cultural literacy end of the spectrum. Canadian
scholars Tat Tsang and Usha George are critical of this position, which, they argue,
presupposes that the knowledge of the social worker is superior to that of the client.
Moreover, they contend that this approach takes for granted that social workers are
adequately conversant with multiple cultures and that they are willing to use stereotyp-
ical “culture-specific” intervention techniques (Tsang & George, 1998, p. 82). Finally, these
authors claim that cultural literacy encourages social categorization rather than trying to
understand the unique nexus of each person’s diversities and the nuances of individuality.
For more on cultural literacy see Chapter 2 by June Ying Yee and Gary C. Dumbrill.
In contrast, the more experiential, phenomenological end of the continuum assumes
a stance of openness, humility, and curiosity vis-à-vis the client. A worker’s assumptions
are suspended in this model, and worker–client interactions stress the former’s lack of
presumption in engaging with the client. Recent scholarship discusses this stance in
relation to (1) understanding one’s own culture and self and using this as a basis for
understanding others, and (2) using social constructivist principles to guide intervention
(Lee & Greene, 1999). The following chapters adhere to this approach, but with some
additional consideration—cultural literacy is not entirely abandoned. For example, sev-
eral contributors appear to hold, and we agree, that some culturally specific techniques
are tenable provided they are carried out in experiential phenomenological ways and
that the client is permitted to exercise his or her cultural knowledge/expertise. Likewise,
clients may be members of a particular cultural group, but in a thoughtful, experien-
tial-phenomenological model this should not mean—as a position of strong cultural lit-
eracy might assert—that the worker would then hold an essentializing set of perceptions.

Intersectionality
We shall provide definitions for three terms here. The first is social location, which
implies one’s place in society as delimited by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation,
religion, language, or anything else that might distinguish one person from the next.
 Al-Krenawi, Graham, and Habibov: Introduction 7

Social location is best understood subjectively, in relation to how a person understands

him or herself (Anthias, 2002b).
Second, we consider the notion of positionality, which is similar to social location
but subsumes the notion of power. By positionality, we mean one’s social position in
relation to others—particularly in relation to the different levels of power that occur in
those relationships. A good way to determine one’s social location—those things that
distinguish us from another—is through its intersection with positionality. For further
reading on positionality, see Chapter 6 by Miu Chung Yan.
Third, intersectionality points to the idea that social location or positionality are
not fixed concepts: They change with time and place, and these shifts can even seem
contradictory (Anthias, 2008). A person may have, or be perceived to have, power and
authority at one moment and comparably less the next moment—depending in part on
those people with whom he or she is interacting and the nature of their ever-changing
relationships. By “intersection” we mean the way in which all these aspects—ethnicity,
gender, language, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic class, and so on—
contribute to the unique person that each of us is, as well as to the subjectivities in which
we understand ourselves and in which others understand us (Al-Krenawi & Graham,
2003; Mehrotra, 2010).

Localization and Indigenization

Social work emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western Europe and
North America. In the period between World Wars I and II, the profession spread
across the world, and after World War II that diffusion deepened. A voluminous cor-
pus of social work scholarship, culminating in James Midgley’s monumental 1981
work, describes this profusion of knowledge as a product of “imperialism,” or “coloni-
alism.” The assumptions and values of the countries in which social work originated
were poorly suited to newly developing countries (as they were then called), and the
development of the profession was consequently curtailed in these settings. A move-
ment to indigenize, or—our preferred term—localize, social work called for locally
based understandings and practices of the profession, and the creation of knowledge
from within the specific locale rather than the external imposition of knowledge from
without it (Al-Krenawi & Graham, 2008; Bradshaw & Graham, 2007; Graham 2006).

How This Book Is Organized

Against the above background, how can the social work profession begin to address the
growing diversity in Canada? The chapters in this book have been carefully selected
to shed light on this urgent question. The chapters are divided into three parts. The
chapters in Part 1, “Theoretical Approaches to Social Work and Diversity,” aim to elu-
cidate the relationship between diversity and social work. In this first chapter, Alean
Al-Krenawi, John Graham, and Nazim Habibov provide a succinct summary of key
8 Part I Theoretical Approaches to Social Work and Diversity

issues related to diversity in social work. The authors introduce some problems, theor-
ies, and themes related to social work and diversity that have recently emerged in the
literature. In Chapter 2, June Ying Yee and Gary C. Dumbrill look at the place of race,
“Whiteness,” and racism in Canadian social work. They introduce and examine the
concept of “Whiteness,” demonstrating how it reproduces racism, classism, and sexism
in the delivery of social work services. In Chapter 3, Gordon Pon, Sulaimon Giwa, and
Narda Razack build a solid foundation for anti-racism and anti-oppressive social work.
They discuss diversity discourse against the background of colonization and racism in
Canada and examine the strengths and limitations of anti-racism and anti-oppressive
social work practice in the Canadian context.
In Part 2, “Social Work in Diverse Settings,” the contributors offer a number of
trenchant ideas for managing diversity in a variety of contemporary social work
venues. In Chapter 4, Marie Lacroix suggests how multicultural social work might be
harnessed in clinical and direct social work practice. The reader will learn how social
workers can develop and maintain cultural competency in working with individuals,
families, and groups. In Chapter 5, Douglas Durst provides a perspective on present-
day challenges of macro practice with diverse communities. In doing so, he presents
the skills, strategies, and values that form the bedrock of community development in a
multicultural context.
In Part 3, “Social Work with Diverse Populations,” the contributing authors detail
the importance of cultural competency for social work practice with many groups,
from First Nations to francophones to new Canadians. In Chapter 6, Miu Chung Yan
identifies intersectionality as central to effective social work practice with diverse popu-
lations. Blending theory and case studies, he demonstrates how the intersection of mul-
tiple social categories may encourage the development of oppressive conditions against
individuals or groups within these categories. In Chapter 7, Raymond Neckoway and
Keith Brownlee develop an endogenous model of social work practice with Aboriginal
families within both traditional and urban contexts. The chapter illustrates how to
incorporate important elements of First Nations history and culture such as extended
family, the medicine wheel, and Aboriginal parent voices into social work practice today.
In Chapter 8, David Welch affords a view of the history and social construction of the
Franco-Ontarian community. He vividly depicts the main socio-economic transform-
ations of the community, which have dramatically altered social work practice with
francophones in Ontario and Canada.
In Chapter 9, Debashis Dutta and Ross A. Klein re-examine the classic theor-
ies and social work approaches to adaptation and acculturation of new immigrant
parents. Then, they examine the Immigrant Parent Enhancement framework as an
innovative way to foster parental integration. In Chapter 10, Catherine Montgomery
continues with the topic of immigrants by focusing on the most vulnerable categories
of immigrants—refugees. She evaluates the existing intervention models for working
with immigrant and refugee populations, and suggests using narrative techniques
for understanding migration trajectories and integration processes. In Chapter 11,
 Al-Krenawi, Graham, and Habibov: Introduction 9

Diana Coholic provides rationales for integrating spiritually sensitive methods into
social work practice. Using a case study approach, she assesses multiple strategies
for including spirituality in social work. In Chapter 12, Christine A. Walsh, Carey
Mulligan, and Gio Dolcecore concentrate on sexual diversity and social work. After
providing in-depth historical and theoretical overviews of the lgbtq (lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender, queer) movement and structural barriers for lgbtq groups,
the authors consider mechanisms of advocacy for lgbtq individuals and commun-
ities. In Chapter 13, Sarah Fotheringham engages with the important topic of gender
and its implications for social work. The author begins with an overview of theories
of gender and continues with their critical assessment. Next, she evaluates the impact
of gender on daily life, moving then to her main concern, the complexities that riddle
the relationship between gender and social work practice.
In Chapter 14, Irene Carter brings the reader into the world of disability. A range
of models of disability are presented, with an emphasis on two: the social model of
disability and the independent living model. The former stresses that the onus for the
restricted participation of persons with disabilities should be placed on negative social
factors rather than on the disability itself, while the latter advocates situating the per-
son with disabilities as an adequate decision maker capable of taking responsibility
for his or her care requirements. In Chapter 15, Daniel Lai and Xue Bai focus on the
diversity of Canada’s aging population by providing a succinct description of the main
theories and perspectives on aging and diversity and discussing practice approaches
for working with older adults. In Chapter 16, Natalie Blake-Noel introduces an array of
classroom exercises that are explicitly aimed at engaging group work in the classroom,
critical thinking, and individual reflection related to practice with diverse populations.
Chapter 17, the concluding chapter of the book, by Al-Krenawi, Graham, and Habibov,
discusses how diversity and multiculturalism, while highly related notions, are none-
theless differentiated by significant factors. The volume ends with a consideration of the
“culture of inclusion,” a construct that is gaining much ground on a global scale.

Summary and Conclusion

The discipline of social work, arising as it did in the West, was exported with only partial
success to different cultures across the world. Indeed, even in North America social work
has been shown to be implicated in a variety of oppressive modes. Social work, however,
is far from alone in its discovery and disclosure of less-than-ideal practices and assump-
tions. In point of fact, in every sector a kind of across-the-board reassessment of approach
to difference is taking place. Long-standing assumptions regarding gender, ethnicity, race,
ability, religion, sexual orientation, and every other element that defines us are currently
under critical review. To this exhaustively evaluative approach there has been a fair amount
of backlash. Authors Cummins and Sayers (1996), for instance, described cultural divers-
ity as “the enemy from within.” Others see multiculturalism as a “minority perspective”
and an attempt to be “politically correct” (D’Andrea, Daniels, & Heck, 1991). However,
10 Part I Theoretical Approaches to Social Work and Diversity

multiculturalism and diversity do not necessarily threaten group unity; multiculturalism

has the ability to enrich society with its variant social components (Al-Krenawi, 2014).
This volume actively embraces a positive reception of diversity. As noted above, the
world in general, and the ambit of social work in particular, is made up of people bearing
very different profiles. The present work assembles the contributions of multiple research
avenues for constructive engagement with this world of diversity. The very diversity of
the authors represented here reflects the wide array of viewpoints available for consider-
ation. As such, the reader will note some disagreements in perspectives among the chap-
ters. Notwithstanding this intellectual heterogeneity, a thread running throughout the
work is that social work knowledge tends to spearhead a progressive orientation toward
the Other. This hopeful thrust is manifesting itself across the discipline of social work,
rendering social work practice increasingly compassionate and helpful.

Suggested Readings and Resources

Brydon, K. (2012). Promoting diversity or confirming hegemony? In search of new
insights for social work. International Social Work, 55, 155–67.
Congress, E. P. (2004). Cultural and ethical issues in working with culturally diverse
patients and their families: The use of the culturagram to promote cultural compe-
tent practice in health care settings. Social Work in Health Care, 39(3–4), 249–62.
Dhooper, S. S., and Moore, S. E. (2000). Social work practice with culturally diverse
people. Lexington, KY: Sage Publications, Inc.
Graham, J. R., Shier, M. L., & Brownlee, K. (2012). Contexts of practice and their
impact on social work: A comparative analysis of the context of geography and
culture. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 21(2), 111–28. doi:
10.1080/15313204.2012.673430
Graham, J. R., Swift, K., & Delaney, R. (2012). Canadian social policy: An introduction
(4th ed.). Toronto, ON: Pearson Education Canada.
Gray, M., Coates, J., & Hetherington, T. (2007). Hearing Indigenous voices in main-
stream social work. Families in Society, 88(1), 53–64.
Harrison, G., & Turner, R. Being a “culturally competent” social worker: Making sense
of a murky concept in practice. British Journal of Social Work, 41(2), 333–50.
Jones, D. N., & Truell, R. (2012). The Global Agenda for Social Work and Social
Development: A place to link together and be effective in a globalized world.
International Social Work, 55, 454–72.
Law, K. Y., and Lee, K. M. (2014). Importing Western values versus indigenization:
Social work practice with ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. International Social
Work. doi:10.1177/0020872813500804
National Association of Social Workers. (n.d.). Diversity and cultural competence.
Retrieved from https://www.socialworkers.org/pressroom/features/issue/diversity.asp

Trinidad, A. M. O. (2014). Critical Indigenous pedagogy of place: How centering
Hawaiian epistemology and values in practice affects people on ecosystemic levels.
Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 23(2), 110–28.
Weaver, H. N. Indigenous people and the social work profession: Defining culturally
competent services. Social Work, 44(3), 217–25.
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Whiteout
Still Looking for Race in Canadian Social
Work Practice
By June Ying Yee and Gary C. Dumbrill
2

Chapter Objectives
This chapter will help you develop an understanding of:
• The ways in which learning about the culture of the “Other” distracts social
work practitioners from recognizing the ways in which Whiteness shapes the
norms and values of Canadian society
• The origins of White power, which date back to the early days of colonialism,
European enslavement of others, and capitalism
• How the White standpoint becomes the nation’s standpoint and White
cultural practices are constituted as Canada’s social norms
• Whiteness as a marker of social location of privilege that is linked to broader
socio-political processes, resulting in differential access to privilege
• How Whiteness has shaped the history of multicultural social work
literature and, in turn, the way in which services are provided to ethnoracial
communities
• The need for social work practice to make visible the power of Whiteness
within organizational structures and practices
• Strategies for confronting Whiteness in social work practice

Introduction
Canada’s population is racially diverse (Henry & Tator, 2010). According to the
National Household Survey (Ministry of Industry, 2013), between 2006 and 2011,
78 per cent of the immigrants who arrived in Canada were visible minorities. The
primary source countries of immigration were from Asia, including the Middle East,
as well as Africa, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Recognizing that
social work caseloads include an increasing number of persons from diverse ethnor-
acial backgrounds brings to the fore the urgent need to provide culturally relevant and
appropriate services. Many social service agencies struggle to find ways to deliver both
Another random document with
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“‘Well,’ I say to him, ‘Emelian, you will have to give up drink, do you
hear? you will have to give it up! The next time you return tipsy, you
will have to sleep on the stairs. I’ll not let you in!’
“After this Emelian kept to the house for two days; on the third he
once more sneaked out. I wait and wait for him; he does not come! I
must confess that I was kind of frightened; besides, I felt terribly
sorry for him. What had I done to the poor devil! I thought. I must
have frightened him off. Where could he have gone to now, the
wretched creature? Great God, he may perish yet! The night passed
and he did not return. In the morning I went out into the hall, and he
was lying there with his head on the lower step, almost stiff with cold.
“‘What is the matter with you, Emelian? The Lord save you! Why are
you here?’
“‘But you know, Astafi Ivanich,’ he replied, ‘you were angry with me
the other day; I aggravated you, and you promised to make me sleep
in the hall, and I—so I—did not dare—to come in—and lay down
here.’
“‘It would be better for you, Emelian,’ I said, filled with anger and pity,
‘to find a better employment than needlessly watching the stairs!’
“‘But what other employment, Astafi Ivanich?’
“‘Well, wretched creature that you are,’ here anger had flamed up in
me, ‘if you would try to learn the tailoring art. Just look at the cloak
you are wearing! Not only is it full of holes, but you are sweeping the
stairs with it! You should at least take a needle and mend it a little, so
it would look more decent. E-ch, a wretched tippler you are, and
nothing more!’
“Well, sir! What do you think! He did take the needle—I had told him
only for fun, and there he got scared and actually took the needle.
He threw off his cloak and began to put the thread through; well, it
was easy to see what would come of it; his eyes began to fill and
reddened, his hands trembled! He pushed and pushed the thread—
could not get it through: he wetted it, rolled it between his fingers,
smoothed it out, but it would not—go! He flung it from him and
looked at me.
“‘Well, Emelian!’ I said, ‘you served me right! If people had seen it I
would have died with shame! I only told you all this for fun, and
because I was angry with you. Never mind sewing; may the Lord
keep you from sin! You need not do anything, only keep out of
mischief, and do not sleep on the stairs and put me to shame
thereby!’
“‘But what shall I do, Astafi Ivanich; I know myself that I am always
tipsy and unfit for anything! I only make you, my be-benefactor,
angry for nothing.’
“And suddenly his bluish lips began to tremble, and a tear rolled
down his unshaven, pale cheek, then another and another one, and
he broke into a very flood of tears, my Emelian. Father in Heaven! I
felt as if some one had cut me over the heart with a knife.
“‘E-ch you, sensitive man; why, I never thought! And who could have
thought such a thing! No, I’d better give you up altogether, Emelian;
do as you please.’
“Well, sir, what else is there to tell! But the whole thing is so
insignificant and unimportant, it is really not worth while wasting
words about it; for instance, you, sir, would not give two broken
groschen for it; but I, I would give much, if I had much, that this thing
had never happened! I owned, sir, a pair of breeches, blue, in
checks, a first-class article, the devil take them—a rich landowner
who came here on business ordered them from me, but refused
afterward to take them, saying that they were too tight, and left them
with me.
“Well, I thought, the cloth is of first-rate quality! I can get five rubles
for them in the old-clothes market-place, and, if not, I can cut a fine
pair of pantaloons out of them for some St. Petersburg gent, and
have a piece left over for a vest for myself. Everything counts with a
poor man! And Emelian was at that time in sore straits. I saw that he
had given up drinking, first one day, then a second, and a third, and
looked so downhearted and sad.
“Well, I thought, it is either that the poor fellow lacks the necessary
coin or maybe he has entered on the right path, and has at last
listened to good sense.
“Well, to make a long story short, an important holiday came just at
that time, and I went to vespers. When I came back I saw Emelian
sitting on the window-seat as drunk as a lord. Eh! I thought, so that is
what you are about! And I go to my trunk to get out something I
needed. I look! The breeches are not there. I rummage about in this
place and that place: gone! Well, after I had searched all over and
saw that they were missing for fair, I felt as if something had gone
through me! I went after the old woman—as to Emelian, though
there was evidence against him in his being drunk, I somehow never
thought of him!
“‘No,’ says my old woman; ‘the good Lord keep you, gentleman,
what do I need breeches for? can I wear them? I myself missed a
skirt the other day. I know nothing at all about it.’
“‘Well,’ I asked, ‘has any one called here?’
“‘No one called,’ she said. ‘I was in all the time; your friend here went
out for a short while and then came back; here he sits! Why don’t
you ask him?’
“‘Did you happen, for some reason or other, Emelian, to take the
breeches out of the trunk? The ones, you remember, which were
made for the landowner?’
“‘No,’ he says, ‘I have not taken them, Astafi Ivanich.’
“‘What could have happened to them?’ Again I began to search, but
nothing came of it! And Emelian sat and swayed to and fro on the
window-seat.
“I was on my knees before the open trunk, just in front of him.
Suddenly I threw a sidelong glance at him. Ech, I thought, and felt
very hot round the heart, and my face grew very red. Suddenly my
eyes encountered Emelian’s.
“‘No,’ he says, ‘Astafi Ivanich. You perhaps think that I—you know
what I mean—but I have not taken them.’
“‘But where have they gone, Emelian?’
“‘No,’ he says, ‘Astafi Ivanich, I have not seen them at all.’
“‘Well, then, you think they simply went and got lost by themselves,
Emelian?’
“‘Maybe they did, Astafi Ivanich.’
“After this I would not waste another word on him. I rose from my
knees, locked the trunk, and after I had lighted the lamp I sat down
to work. I was remaking a vest for a government clerk, who lived on
the floor below. But I was terribly rattled, just the same. It would have
been much easier to bear, I thought, if all my wardrobe had burned
to ashes. Emelian, it seems, felt that I was deeply angered. It is
always so, sir, when a man is guilty; he always feels beforehand
when trouble approaches, as a bird feels the coming storm.
“‘And do you know, Astafi Ivanich,’ he suddenly began, ‘the leach
married the coachman’s widow to-day.’
“I just looked at him; but, it seems, looked at him so angrily that he
understood: I saw him rise from his seat, approach the bed, and
begin to rummage in it, continually repeating: ‘Where could they
have gone, vanished, as if the devil had taken them!’
“I waited to see what was coming; I saw that my Emelian had
crawled under the bed. I could contain myself no longer.
“‘Look here,’ I said. ‘What makes you crawl under the bed?’
“‘I am looking for the breeches, Astafi Ivanich,’ said Emelian from
under the bed. ‘Maybe they got here somehow or other.’
“‘But what makes you, sir (in my anger I addressed him as if he was
—somebody), what makes you trouble yourself on account of such a
plain man as I am; dirtying your knees for nothing!’
“‘But, Astafi Ivanich.—I did not mean anything—I only thought maybe
if we look for them here we may find them yet.’
“‘Mm! Just listen to me a moment, Emelian!’
“‘What, Astafi Ivanich?’
“‘Have you not simply stolen them from me like a rascally thief,
serving me so for my bread and salt?’ I said to him, beside myself
with wrath at the sight of him crawling under the bed for something
he knew was not there.
“‘No, Astafi Ivanich.’ For a long time he remained lying flat under the
bed. Suddenly he crawled out and stood before me—I seem to see
him even now—as terrible a sight as sin itself.
“‘No,’ he says to me in a trembling voice, shivering through all his
body and pointing to his breast with his finger, so that all at once I
became scared and could not move from my seat on the window. ‘I
have not taken your breeches, Astafi Ivanich.’
“‘Well,’ I answered, ‘Emelian, forgive me if in my foolishness I have
accused you wrongfully. As to the breeches, let them go hang; we
will get along without them. We have our hands, thank God, we will
not have to steal, and now, too, we will not have to sponge on
another poor man; we will earn our living.’
“Emelian listened to me and remained standing before me for some
time, then he sat down and sat motionless the whole evening; when I
lay down to sleep, he was still sitting in the same place.
“In the morning, when I awoke, I found him sleeping on the bare
floor, wrapped up in his cloak; he felt his humiliation so strongly that
he had no heart to go and lie down on the bed.
“Well, sir, from that day on I conceived a terrible dislike for the man;
that is, rather, I hated him the first few days, feeling as if, for
instance, my own son had robbed me and given me deadly offense.
Ech, I thought, Emelian, Emelian! And Emelian, my dear sir, had
gone on a two weeks’ spree. Drunk to bestiality from morning till
night. And during the whole two weeks he had not uttered a word. I
suppose he was consumed the whole time by a deep-seated grief, or
else he was trying in this way to make an end to himself. At last he
gave up drinking. I suppose he had no longer the wherewithal to buy
vodka—had drunk up every copeck—and he once more took up his
old place on the window-seat. I remember that he sat there for three
whole days without a word; suddenly I see him weep; sits there and
cries, but what crying! The tears come from his eyes in showers,
drip, drip, as if he did not know that he was shedding them. It is very
painful, sir, to see a grown man weep, all the more when the man is
of advanced years, like Emelian, and cries from grief and a sorrowful
heart.
“‘What ails you, Emelian?’ I say to him.
“He starts and shivers. This was the first time I had spoken to him
since that eventful day.
“‘It is nothing—Astafi Ivanich.’
“‘God keep you, Emelian; never you mind it all. Let bygones be
bygones. Don’t take it to heart so, man!’ I felt very sorry for him.
“‘It is only that—that I would like to do something—some kind of
work, Astafi Ivanich.’
“‘But what kind of work, Emelian?’
“‘Oh, any kind. Maybe I will go into some kind of service, as before. I
have already been at my former employer’s asking. It will not do for
me, Astafi Ivanich, to use you any longer. I, Astafi Ivanich, will
perhaps obtain some employment, and then I will pay you for
everything, food and all.’
“‘Don’t, Emelian, don’t. Well, let us say you committed a sin; well, it
is all over! The devil take it all! Let us live as before—as if nothing
had happened!’
“‘You, Astafi Ivanich, you are probably hinting about that. But I have
not taken your breeches.’
“‘Well, just as you please, Emelian!’
“‘No, Astafi Ivanich, evidently I can not live with you longer. You will
excuse me, Astafi Ivanich.’
“‘But God be with you, Emelian,’ I said to him; ‘who is it that is
offending you or driving you out of the house? Is it I who am doing
it?’
“‘No, but it is unseemly for me to misuse your hospitality any longer,
Astafi Ivanich; ‘twill be better to go.’
“I saw that he had in truth risen from his place and donned his
ragged cloak—he felt offended, the man did, and had gotten it into
his head to leave, and—basta.
“‘But where are you going, Emelian? Listen to sense: what are you?
Where will you go?’
“‘No, it is best so, Astafi Ivanich, do not try to keep me back,’ and he
once more broke into tears; ‘let me be, Astafi Ivanich, you are no
longer what you used to be.’
“‘Why am I not? I am just the same. But you will perish when left
alone—like a foolish little child, Emelian.’
“‘No, Astafi Ivanich. Lately, before you leave the house, you have
taken to locking your trunk, and I, Astafi Ivanich, see it and weep.—
No, it is better you should let me go, Astafi Ivanich, and forgive me if
I have offended you in any way during the time we have lived
together.’
“Well, sir! And so he did go away. I waited a day and thought: Oh, he
will be back toward evening. But a day passes, then another, and he
does not return. On the third—he does not return. I grew frightened,
and a terrible sadness gripped at my heart. I stopped eating and
drinking, and lay whole nights without closing my eyes. The man had
wholly disarmed me! On the fourth day I went to look for him; I
looked in all the taverns and pot-houses in the vicinity, and asked if
any one had seen him. No, Emelian had wholly disappeared! Maybe
he has done away with his miserable existence, I thought. Maybe,
when in his cups, he has perished like a dog, somewhere under a
fence. I came home half dead with fatigue and despair, and decided
to go out the next day again to look for him, cursing myself bitterly for
letting the foolish, helpless man go away from me. But at dawn of the
fifth day (it was a holiday) I heard the door creak. And whom should I
see but Emelian! But in what a state! His face was bluish and his hair
was full of mud, as if he had slept in the street; and he had grown
thin, the poor fellow had, as thin as a rail. He took off his poor cloak,
sat down on my trunk, and began to look at me. Well, sir, I was
overjoyed, but at the same time felt a greater sadness than ever
pulling at my heart-strings. This is how it was, sir: I felt that if a thing
like that had happened to me, that is—I would sooner have perished
like a dog, but would not have returned. And Emelian did. Well,
naturally, it is hard to see a man in such a state. I began to coddle
and to comfort him in every way.
“‘Well,’ I said, ‘Emelian, I am very glad you have returned; if you had
not come so soon, you would not have found me in, as I intended to
go hunting for you. Have you had anything to eat?’
“‘I have eaten, Astafi Ivanich.’
“‘I doubt it. Well, here is some cabbage soup—left over from
yesterday; a nice soup with some meat in it—not the meagre kind.
And here you have some bread and a little onion. Go ahead and eat;
it will do you good.’
“I served it to him; and immediately realized that he must have been
starving for the last three days—such an appetite as he showed! So
it was hunger that had driven him back to me. Looking at the poor
fellow, I was deeply touched, and decided to run into the nearby
dramshop. I will get him some vodka, I thought, to liven him up a bit
and make peace with him. It is enough. I have nothing against the
poor devil any longer. And so I brought the vodka and said to him:
‘Here, Emelian, let us drink to each other’s health in honor of the
holiday. Come, take a drink. It will do you good.’
“He stretched out his hand, greedily stretched it out, you know, and
stopped; then, after a while, he lifted the glass, carried it to his
mouth, spilling the liquor on his sleeve; at last he did carry it to his
mouth, but immediately put it back on the table.
“‘Well, why don’t you drink, Emelian?’
“‘But no, I’ll not, Astafi Ivanich.’
“‘You’ll not drink it!’
“‘But I, Astafi Ivanich, I think—I’ll not drink any more, Astafi Ivanich.’
“‘Is it for good you have decided to give it up, Emelian, or only for to-
day?’
“He did not reply, and after a while I saw him lean his head on his
hand, and I asked him: ‘Are you not feeling well, Emelian?’
“‘Yes, pretty well, Astafi Ivanich.’
“I made him go to bed, and saw that he was truly in a bad way. His
head was burning hot and he was shivering with ague. I sat by him
the whole day; toward evening he grew worse. I prepared a meal for
him of kvass, butter, and some onion, and threw in it a few bits of
bread, and said to him: ‘Go ahead and take some food; maybe you
will feel better!’
“But he only shook his head: ‘No, Astafi Ivanich, I shall not have any
dinner to-day.’
“I had some tea prepared for him, giving a lot of trouble to the poor
old woman from whom I rented a part of the room—but he would not
take even a little tea.
“Well, I thought to myself, it is a bad case. On the third morning I
went to see the doctor, an acquaintance of mine, Dr. Kostopravov,
who had treated me when I still lived in my last place. The doctor
came, examined the poor fellow, and only said: ‘There was no need
of sending for me, he is already too far gone, but you can give him
some powders which I will prescribe.’
“Well, I didn’t give him the powders at all, as I understood that the
doctor was only doing it for form’s sake; and in the mean while came
the fifth day.
“He lay dying before me, sir. I sat on the window-seat with some
work I had on hand lying on my lap. The old woman was raking the
stove. We were all silent, and my heart was breaking over this poor,
shiftless creature, as if he were my own son whom I was losing. I
knew that Emelian was gazing at me all the time; I noticed from the
earliest morning that he longed to tell me something, but seemingly
dared not. At last I looked at him, and saw that he did not take his
eyes from me, but that whenever his eyes met mine, he immediately
lowered his own.
“‘Astafi Ivanich!’
“‘What, Emelian?’
“‘What if my cloak should be carried over to the old clothes market,
would they give much for it, Astafi Ivanich?’
“‘Well,’ I said, ‘I do not know for certain, but three rubles they would
probably give for it, Emelian.’ I said it only to comfort the simple-
minded creature; in reality they would have laughed in my face for
even thinking to sell such a miserable, ragged thing.
“‘And I thought that they might give a little more, Astafi Ivanich. It is
made of cloth, so how is it that they would not wish to pay more than
three rubles for it?’
“‘Well, Emelian, if you wish to sell it, then of course you may ask
more for it at first.’
“Emelian was silent for a moment, then he once more called to me.
“‘Astafi Ivanich!’
“‘What is it, Emelian?’
“‘You will sell the cloak after I am no more; no need of burying me in
it, I can well get along without it; it is worth something, and may
come handy to you.’
“Here I felt such a painful gripping at my heart as I can not even
express, sir. I saw that the sadness of approaching death had
already come upon the man. Again we were silent for some time.
About an hour passed in this way. I looked at him again and saw that
he was still gazing at me, and when his eyes met mine he
immediately lowered his.
“‘Would you like a drink of cold water?’ I asked him.
“‘Give me some, and may God repay you, Astafi Ivanich.’
“‘Would you like anything else, Emelian?’
“‘No, Astafi Ivanich, I do not want anything, but I—’
“‘What?’
“‘You know that—’
“‘What is it you want, Emelian?’
“‘The breeches.—You know.—It was I who took them—Astafi Ivanich
—’
“‘Well,’ I said, ‘the great God will forgive you, Emelian, poor,
unfortunate fellow that you are! Depart in peace.’
“And I had to turn away my head for a moment because grief for the
poor devil took my breath away and the tears came in torrents from
my eyes.
“‘Astafi Ivanich!—’
“I looked at him, saw that he wished to tell me something more, tried
to raise himself, and was moving his lips.—He reddened and looked
at me.—Suddenly I saw that he began to grow paler and paler; in a
moment he fell with his head thrown back, breathed once, and gave
his soul into God’s keeping.”
Tolstoi
 THE LONG EXILE

BY COUNT LEO NIKOLAIEVITCH TOLSTOI

Count Tolstoi, the son of a Russian nobleman, was born in 1828,

so he is to-day an old man. The greatest book that has come out
of Russia is the tragic but intensely lifelike “Anna Karenina,”
published when Tolstoi was forty-seven years old. Much of his
early work is extremely interesting and valuable, for artistic
reasons, but his late years have been devoted almost entirely to
moralising and speculating. A consensus of opinion among
students of Russian literature shows that they consider “The Long
Exile” to be the author’s best short story.
 THE LONG EXILE
BY COUNT LEO TOLSTOI
Translated by Nathan Haskell Dole. Copyright, 1888,
by Thomas V. Crowell & Co.
“God sees the truth, but bides his time.”

Once upon a time there lived in the city of Vladímir a young

merchant named Aksénof. He had two shops and a house.
Aksénof himself had a ruddy complexion and curly hair; he was a
very jolly fellow and a good singer. When he was young he used to
drink too much, and when he was tipsy he was turbulent; but after
his marriage he ceased drinking, and only occasionally had a spree.
One time in summer Aksénof was going to Nízhni[1] to the great Fair.
As he was about to bid his family good-by, his wife said to him:
“Iván Dmítrievitch, do not go to-day; I had a dream, and dreamed
that some misfortune befell you.”
Aksénof laughed at her, and said: “You are always afraid that I shall
go on a spree at the Fair.”
His wife said: “I myself know not what I am afraid of, but I had such a
strange dream: you seemed to be coming home from town, and you
took off your hat, and I looked, and your head was all gray.”
Aksénof laughed. “That means good luck. See, I am going now. I will
bring you some rich remembrances.”
And he bade his family farewell and set off.
When he had gone half his journey, he fell in with a merchant of his
acquaintance, and the two stopped together at the same tavern for
the night. They took tea together, and went to sleep in two adjoining
rooms.
Aksénof did not care to sleep long; he awoke in the middle of the
night, and in order that he might get a good start while it was cool he
aroused his driver and bade him harness up, went down into the
smoky hut, settled his account with the landlord, and started on his
way.
After he had driven forty versts,[2] he again stopped to get something
to eat; he rested in the vestibule of the inn, and when it was noon, he
went to the doorstep and ordered the samovár[3] got ready; then he
took out his guitar and began to play.
Suddenly a troïka[4] with a bell dashed up to the inn, and from the
equipage leaped an official with two soldiers; he comes directly up to
Aksénof and asks: “Who are you? Where did you come from?”
Aksénof answers without hesitation, and asks him if he would not
have a glass of tea with him.
But the official keeps on with his questions: “Where did you spend
last night? Were you alone or with a merchant? Have you seen the
merchant this morning? Why did you leave so early this morning?”
Aksénof wondered why he was questioned so closely; but he told
everything just as it was, and he asks: “Why do you ask me so many
questions? I am not a thief or a murderer. I am on my own business;
there is nothing to question me about.”
Then the official called up the soldiers, and said: “I am the police
inspector, and I have made these inquiries of you because the
merchant with whom you spent last night has been stabbed. Show
me your things, and you men search him.”
They went into the tavern, brought in the trunk and bag, and began
to open and search them. Suddenly the police inspector pulled out
from the bag a knife, and demanded: “Whose knife is this?”
Aksénof looked and saw a knife covered with blood taken from his
bag, and he was frightened.
“And whose blood is that on the knife?”
Aksénof tried to answer, but he could not articulate his words:
“I—I—don’t—know.—I.—That knife—it is—not mine—”
Then the police inspector said: “This morning the merchant was
found stabbed to death in his bed. No one except you could have
done it. The tavern was locked on the inside, and there was no one
in the tavern except yourself. And here is the bloody knife in your
bag, and your guilt is evident in your face. Tell me how you killed him
and how much money you took from him.” Aksénof swore that he
had not done it, that he had not seen the merchant after he had
drunken tea with him, that the only money that he had with him—
eight thousand rubles—was his own, and that the knife was not his.
But his voice trembled, his face was pale, and he was all quivering
with fright, like a guilty person.
The police inspector called the soldiers, commanded them to bind
Aksénof and take him to the wagon.
When they took him to the wagon with his feet tied, Aksénof crossed
himself and burst into tears.
They confiscated Aksénof’s possessions and his money, and took
him to the next city and threw him into prison.
They sent to Vladímir to make inquiries about Aksénof’s character,
and all the merchants and citizens of Vladímir declared that Aksénof,
when he was young, used to drink and was wild, but that now he
was a worthy man. Then he was brought up for judgment. He was
sentenced for having killed the merchant and for having robbed him
of twenty thousand rubles.
Aksénof’s wife was dumfounded by the event, and did not know what
to think. Her children were still small, and there was one at the
breast. She took them all with her and journeyed to the city where
her husband was imprisoned.
At first they would not grant her admittance, but afterward she got
permission from the chief, and was taken to her husband.
When she saw him in his prison garb, in chains together with
murderers, she fell to the floor, and it was a long time before she
recovered from her swoon. Then she placed her children around her,
sat down amid them, and began to tell him about their domestic
affairs, and to ask him about everything that had happened to him.
He told her the whole story.
She asked: “What is to be the result of it?”
He said: “We must petition the Czar. It is impossible that an innocent
man should be condemned.”
The wife said that she had already sent in a petition to the Czar, but
that the petition had not been granted. Aksénof said nothing, but was
evidently very much downcast.
Then his wife said: “You see the dream that I had, when I dreamed
that you had become gray-headed, meant something, after all.
Already your hair has begun to turn gray with trouble. You ought to
have stayed at home that time.”
And she began to tear her hair, and she said: “Vanya,[5] my dearest
husband, tell your wife the truth: Did you commit that crime or not?”
Aksénof said: “So you, too, have no faith in me!” And he wrung his
hands and wept.
Then a soldier came and said that it was time for the wife and
children to go. And Aksénof for the last time bade farewell to his
family.
When his wife was gone, Aksénof began to think over all that they
had said. When he remembered that his wife had also distrusted
him, and had asked him if he had murdered the merchant, he said to
himself: “It is evident that no one but God can know the truth of the
matter, and He is the only one to ask for mercy, and He is the only
one from whom to expect it.”
And from that time Aksénof ceased to send in petitions, ceased to
hope, and only prayed to God. Aksénof was sentenced to be
knouted, and then to exile with hard labor.
And so it was done.
He was flogged with the knout, and then, when the wounds from the
knout were healed, he was sent with other exiles to Siberia.
Aksénof lived twenty-six years in the mines. The hair on his head
had become white as snow, and his beard had grown long, thin, and
gray. All his gaiety had vanished.
He was bent, his gait was slow, he spoke little, he never laughed,
and he spent much of his time in prayer.
Aksénof had learned while in prison to make boots, and with the
money that he earned he bought the “Book of Martyrs,”[6] and used
to read it when it was light enough in prison, and on holidays he
would go to the prison church, read the Gospels, and sing in the
choir, for his voice was still strong and good.
The authorities liked Aksénof for his submissiveness, and his prison
associates respected him and called him “Grandfather” and the “man
of God.” Whenever they had petitions to be presented, Aksénof was
always chosen to carry them to the authorities; and when quarrels
arose among the prisoners, they always came to Aksénof as umpire.
Aksénof never received any letters from home, and he knew not
whether his wife and children were alive.
One time some new convicts came to the prison. In the evening all
the old convicts gathered around the newcomers, and began to ply
them with questions as to the cities or villages from which this one or
that had come, and what their crimes were.
At this time Aksénof was sitting on his bunk, near the strangers, and,
with bowed head, was listening to what was said.